Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel has announced his resignation

Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel announced on Tuesday night the resignation of his center-right government, nine days after the departure of Flemish nationalist ministers who opposed Belgium's support of the UN Global Compact on Migration. Charles Michel made the announcement after a debate in Parliament during which he called on the opposition to support it piecemeal, on several key themes, to allow the government to continue working. A call that "Was not heard", lamented the Prime Minister after a suspension of sitting, while socialists and ecologists announced the filing of a motion to overthrow him. "So I take the decision to submit my resignation and my intention is to go to the King immediately"said the francophone Liberal leader, who had been running the government since October 2014.

Since 9 December, the date of the departure of Flemish nationalist ministers from the N-VA, Charles Michel was at the head of a private majority government in the Chamber of Deputies. This Flemish party, led by the mayor of Antwerp Bart De Wever, had laid down certain conditions to continue to support the "Michel II" government and to vote in particular the draft budget 2019. But these conditions, including the possibility of reopening constitutional discussions, were judged 'Unacceptable' by the Prime Minister. "I found that there were new conditions that threatened to launch the country in a forward confederal leak and early elections. We did not accept these conditions. The line is drawnhe said Tuesday afternoon in front of the deputies.

"The page of this government must be turned"

The N-VA, the first political force in the House with 31 deputies out of a total of 150, withdrew its support for the coalition on the eve of Charles Michel's move to approve the pact on migration on behalf of Belgium, the December 10 in Marrakech. Despite its non-binding character, this text was rejected by the Flemish nationalists, believing that it opens the way for the loss of sovereignty of the signatory states to define their migration policy.

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It had been a week since several opposition parties demanded Charles Michel to hold a vote of confidence to judge the government's ability to continue its work until the legislative elections in late May. He had refused. "Today the Prime Minister has learned the lessons, the record of four and a half years of errors"commented Tuesday evening Jean-Marc Nollet MP, co-chair of the party Ecolo. "The page of this government must be turned", he added.